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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Friendly bloggers...

Although my garden is a bit pitiful, Townsville is generally a wonderful place to grow almost anything, if you just have the space. I was given firsthand proof of this fact when Townsville blogger Dee sent out a call for help getting through some of the bananas and pawpaws that she has grown with her partner BoaB.

These two have an amazing garden (and a gorgeous house!) and a generous spirit. They piled my panniers with fresh herbs and fruit, so I was heavily laden on the ride home. Luckily they are only about 2kms from us, so I didn't have to pedal too hard for very long.

We got home and emptied the bags and this bundle of greenery was our bounty.

What you see there is a small bunch of delicious, sweet bananas; several handfulls of fresh basil; 3 pawpaws in varying stages of ripeness; fresh mint; kaffir lime leaves; 6 or 7 tahitian limes; fresh parsley; and a few branches of lemon myrtle (an Aussie native similar in flavour to lemongrass). We also found ourselves with two caterpillars who hitched a ride with us.

So what did we do with all of these fresh and delicious goodies? Most of the kaffir lime leaves, and all of the lemon myrtle, went straight into the freezer. That way we can take them out and use them as we want, and they will stay as good as new.

A few of the kaffir lime leaves, however, made a great addition to a stir fry. First we cooked up some homemade tofu...

And then we tossed everything with yuba sticks and veggies and put it over rice.

One stalk of mint became a delicious pot of tea, while the rest was laid out on racks to dry.

Sorry about the caterpillars, proves it is organic! I made the best tabbouleh ever this weekend with lots of parsley, mint, lime juice and the lemon myrtle for a real lemony kick. I like it with as much green as wheat, and this is the only time of year I have such an abundance of parsley. Enjoy!

I just made the best Thai Green Curry using Kaffir Lime Leaves and Lemongrass. I wish I lived only a short ride away from Dee. Unfortunately it would be quite the ride ... not that I mind a challenge. :-)

How sweet of your friends to share part of their garden with you. That mint tea looks great! as well as those cute paw paw, are these like papaya?. Thanks for commenting on the cuteness of my guinea pigs they are Estefis and Zanahorio (he carrot), they are the whistles in my day.

The Tropical Vegan

Vegan food and low-impact living in the Dry Tropics. Navigate using the tags, below, or by looking at the posts I've grouped under headings, across the top.

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Email: tropicalvegan (at) gmail.com

This blog is not commercial and makes me no money - it's just something I like to do. The stuff on this blog (recipes, text, photos) is mine, so please don't use it without attribution and a link back.